Reviews - Calvin Ruined the Protestant Faith

Calvin Ruined the Protestant Faith

From the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars The corrosive effect of rationalism on the Christian faith

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2019

Gregory L Jackson PhD is a confessional Lutheran theologian, pastor, and teacher. He received a STM degree in Biblical studies from Yale in 1973 and he earned a Master's degree and a PhD in theology at the University of Notre Dame in 1982.

In this book, Dr. Jackson shows how the false doctrines found in the teachings of John Calvin have led to the apostasy we see today in Reformed Protestant denominations and in Lutheran Church bodies which have inculcated Calvinistic ideas.

The Reformation began in 1517 with Martin Luther. It was based on acceptance of the Scriptures as the plainly revealed Word of God, and in the power of the Holy Spirit acting through the Word of God, both the written Word in the Bible and the physical Word in the Sacraments.

In his book, Dr. Jackson showed how the writings of Heinrich Zwingli and John Calvin, contemporaries of Luther and the fathers of Reformed Protestant theology, disagreed with Luther's faith in the Scriptures. Zwingli and Calvin pretended to agree with Luther, but instead came up with another way to view the Scriptures, which can be summarized as 'rationalism'.

To illustrate how rationalism affects one's understanding of the Bible, Dr. Jackson included a reference from Siegbert Becker's book “The Foolishness of God” regarding the methods man can use to study the Bible:

Ministerial reason – use one's intellect to understand God's Word
Magisterial reason – use one's intellect to judge God's Word

Zwingli and Calvin taught from the perspective of magisterial reason that man is the ultimate judge on all passages in the Bible. The result is that people feel they can select a few verses, or even a part of a verse, to establish dogma outside the context of the Scriptures as a whole. This explains why Reformed Protestantism has split into hundreds of factions. Zwingli and Calvin also taught that the Holy Spirit doesn't come to man through the Sacraments bringing grace through faith. Instead, people are predestined either for salvation or damnation.

Luther taught from the perspective of ministerial reason. He accepted what is written in the Scriptures and he maintained a consistent advocacy for the plain meaning of the Bible as the judge of all books. He taught that the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God, as recorded in the Bible. People are saved through the work of the Holy Spirit by God's grace, through faith.

Dr. Jackson showed how the corrosive effects of Calvin's rationalistic doctrine were manifested in the teachings of Philipp Spener in the 17th century, Halle University in the 18th century, Friedrich Schleiermacher in the 19th century, right through Paul Tillich and Karl Barth in the 20th century. And how their ideas resulted in the great falling away from faith, which we see today in the Protestant denominations.

Dr. Jackson provided a “List of Books for Additional Study” for one to use to learn more about the errors of Zwingli and Calvin.

At the end of his book, Dr. Jackson offered a “Simple Program to Expel Calvinism from the Protestant Faith”.

Dr. Jackson discusses the problems of present day Christian denominations on his internet blog. Google ichabodthegloryhasdeparted for the URL. He conducts a weekly traditional Lutheran worship service via the internet, the blog has a link to the broadcast site which also has archived broadcasts.

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Be.G.H.

5.0 out of 5 stars proper response is anger

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2019

This book ties together a brief survey of how the unclear thinking of Calvinism has infected Protestant churches, particularly weak Lutherans. Without an anchor in God's Word, modern churches chase every whim, delivering despair from self-assurance instead of delivering Christ's promises through the Means of Grace.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Norma Boeckler.

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Glen

5.0 out of 5 stars A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2019

The effects of Calvinist human teaching against the Holy Scriptures have effected numerous congregations and spread as deadly poison. A must read type of book to understand the effects the corruption of false doctrine has throughout the world.

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Two Reviews - Understanding Luther's Galatians and Walther, The American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

Understanding Luther's Galatians can be found here on Amazon.

Top review from the United States

Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent re-issue of Graebner's shorter translation of Luther's Commentary on Galatians

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book is a re-issue of Dr. Theodore Graebner’s shorter translation of Martin Luther's “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians.”

In his forward, Dr. Graebner expressed his reason for his translation of Martin Luther's work:

“The importance of this commentary on Galatians for the history of Protestantism is very great. It presents, like no other of Luther's writings, the central thought of Christianity, the justification of the sinner for the sake of Christ's merits alone.”

Dr. Gregory L. Jackson added an introduction along with comments, which he embedded within the text. He enclosed his comments within boxes, in order to separate them from Luther's words.

In his introduction, Dr. Jackson wrote that:

“By stealth, Lutherans have steadily eroded the Biblical doctrine of the Reformation (justification by faith alone), which established them as Evangelicals and Protestants, by now allowing others to use those names and surrendering to the worst inclinations of Calvinists, Pietists, and Roman Catholics. The uniting cause, to soothe every worldly conscience, is to declare that God in his grace has already declared the entire world absolved of all sins. … God declared the world righteous through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus…”.

Dr. Jackson quoted from the work of the 18th century theologian Georg Christian Knapp to show the false doctrine that flowed from universal absolution without regard to faith.

“This is conveniently expressed by the terms Objective and Subjective Justification. Objective Justification is the act of God by which he proffers pardon to all through Christ. Subjective Justification is the act of man by which he accepts the pardon freely offered in the Gospel.”

In a comment on page 56, Dr. Jackson succinctly elucidated the error of those who adhere to the doctrines of Objective and Subjective Justification:

“The false teachers reverse what Paul and Luther taught. The Objective Justification fanatics lay hold of universal forgiveness and make faith in Jesus irrelevant. Faith in Christ has nothing to do with their divine declaration of forgiveness. Secondly, their subjective justification is not faith in Christ, but rather trust in the truth of universal forgiveness.”

As a Lutheran layman, I know that the idea that God forgave the sins of every member of the human race upon the death or resurrection of Christ and this made them righteous is not what Paul taught. Rather, he taught that God declares a person righteous after God imputes the person's sins to Christ, and he imputes the merits of Christ’s sinless life and perfect obedience to the person. Faith is the means by which a person receives righteousness. Is righteousness simply the forgiving of sins, as the Objective justification proponents claim? No. Righteousness requires God to impute the sins of the sinner to Christ, and the merits of Christ's sinless life and perfect obedience to the sinner. Only after this double imputation is a sinner righteous in God's sight.

The idea that “we need to accept the pardon offered by God” is not found in Paul's teaching. It brings to mind the famous Arminian preacher Billy Graham and his call to “Make a decision for Christ.”

I would recommend this book to someone who wishes a read a condensed version of Luther's Commentary on Galatians. It is an excellent introduction for someone who is unfamiliar with the Apostle Paul's doctrine on justification by faith alone. Dr. Jackson's comments highlight key doctrinal points in the text. His comments also illustrate the degree to which the doctrines of present-day confessional Lutheran churches have diverged from the plain teachings of the Apostle Paul and Martin Luther.

Dr Jackson discusses the problems of present day Christian denominations on his internet blog. Google ichabodthegloryhasdeparted for the URL. He conducts a weekly traditional Lutheran worship service via the internet, the blog has a link to the broadcast site which also has archived broadcasts.

Bethany Lutheran Worship 

 Walther, the American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

Mic

5.0 out of 5 stars A shot across the bow

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2021

This is an epiphany for lovers of alternative church history. The author connects the dots and reveals many inconvenient details that he deduced from his careful reading of contemporaneous sources. The ball is now in the court of his detractors. Will they respond?

I am not holding my breath.

Walther, the American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

The Modular Book of Concord - From the Lutheran Librarian Print Books and Free PDFs from the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry

Graphic by Wolfmueller. Has he read more than this in Chemnitz and Luther?

The Book of Concord, 1580, is an imposing volume. The Triglotta version made it even heavier, with tiny print serving as an eyesight test.

May I be frank? Most clergy own a lot of books, but they do not read a lot.

The clown in the video poses and postures below a mountain of untouched books. Kittel? Is he kidding us? He uses a Greek 101 New Testament, a pony, with the English on one side and the Greek on the other. See one of his recent manic videos - where he cannot even read the cue cards and get his confused message across.

The main point is - Rev. Chatterbox has no grasp of the Gospel at all. He is a shrieking OJ copycat of his fanatical, Calvinist Pietist seminary professors. 

The Universalists among you need to read this, since they are Confessional Lutherans. Ha!

Back to the main point. The most portable Book of Concord is the Tappert, scorned by the Objective Justification crowd. They remind me of the boy who visited our house. He said, "I am not allowed to dance. But of all the dances I am not allowed to do, the Moon Walk is my favorite." And he was good.

They do not read or study the Book of Concord in Lutherland, no matter what the synod. The ELS makes a big point of teaching in rooms with Triglottas, but they still enforce Justification without Faith - with Enthusiasm. 

The Solution is the modular Book of Concord, published by 

• Alec Satin, the Lutheran Librarian, printed volumes -
• which are also PDFs in the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry. 

Print volumes are portable and easy to read for the elderly like me. The online copies are handy for searching and copying important passages.

Large Catechism - we can expose false doctrine published by the OJ Universalists.

I learned Luther's Large Catechism because I had the ALC volume of the LC alone. I read it here and there and startled when someone made claims obviously against Luther's sermons as confessions.

Read about the crypto-Calvinists. As one translator wrote, "They are not crypto (secret) anymore." Has anyone done a health and wellness check on him?

Ask Pastor OJ if he has ever read this, especially the part on Justification by Faith.
He will apologize, clear this throat, and mumble something.

I would give this first, among all the modules, to any Lutheran. 
These are Luther's sermons, crafted to be confessions for all Lutherans.
WELS calls the Book of Concord "boring and irrelevant." No, it is especially relevant for a sect known for alcoholism, adultery, and cross-dressing.

The Formula of Concord is a clearly written Biblical commentary on the issues dividing Lutherans. Read Article III - The Righteousness of Faith. The Biggies in your synod do not know, comprehend, or teach this - but they label themselves as Confessional Lutherans, Orthodox Lutherans, Bronze Age Lutherans. They are Seminexers who knew they could not win on that odious label, so they used Church Growth as their cover story.

The Small Catechism, plain and simple, without the accumulation of garbage used to make it "better" and "more understandable."

Arriving - Walther, The American Calvin - at Many Doorsteps

Walther, The American Calvin - print and Kindle.

The preliminary orders are starting to arrive. South Carolina won the race. I have a photo of it delivered. That happens in other places, too, but SC was first.

The print copy is full color but reasonable - only $10 retail. I have made all books non-profit. The Kindle is only 99 cents, but CPH (Conrcordia Publishes Heretics) is charging $40 per Kindle. 

Compare and contrast - the Chief Article of Christianity versus the Calvinist Objective Justification of the Pietists, justified before birth!

Every time you click on a Walther link, an angel gets his wings.
Every time you review a book from Martin Chemnitz Press, the senior editor of the Book of Concord gets a cheer.

"Thanks for remembering me, folks."

Now Available - Walther, The American Calvin:A Synod Built on Felonies

Click here for the print and Kindle version of
Walther, The American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

The early copies of Walther, The American Calvin, have gone out. I have not seen the printed copy yet.

The free PDF will be posted soon.

You can just offer a couple of sentences for a review, such as the need for a more honest view of Missouri's history. Bad reviews are welcome, too. 

Gratuitous kitten photo

"Whatever you do, mein brethren, forget the early years of the Missouri Synod."

Plans for a Book on Biblical Texts and Translations

I am doing more research on the Biblical project, and I expect to write Biblical books from now on. For example, the I AM sermons in John would be a good topic that many could use.

The original text is neglected almost universally. One reason is the lack of Biblical languages in college and seminary. Augustana College provided two years of Greek in the 1960s, for those planning to attend seminary. Years later, when we stopped at their book store, they no longer sold Greek New Testaments. When I told the dean at Waterloo Seminary, Ontario, that I was taking Hebrew, he said, "Why? You won't get academic credit." I said, "To read the Old Testament in its original language." He was obsessed with counselling. Now that school is a separate university where the pastoral track is the least populated. 

Yale Divinity had endless opportunities for Hebrew and Greek Biblical studies. I took Genes in Hebrew for a semester, Thessalonians in Greek, and NT Christology where the languages were assumed. Notre Dame was fairly limited, as one might expect.

All seminaries have weakened the Biblical language requirements, whittling them down to a "summer Greek class" at best. 

Like most, I have never touched an ancient manuscript - unless my college transcript counts. People can buy photographed manuscripts, but they are rare and expensive. A Greek New Testament has notes to indicate what was allowed or omitted, but that is pretty limiting and rarely used.

I am saying - it is easy to fool a clergy population with "little Latin, and less Greek" and no Hebrew. (That is an old jab at the actor Shakespeare, somewhat expanded, because he was the frontman for the Earl of Oxford.)

I am not sure the clergy really care to learn about manuscripts and translations, even though the information is fascinating - and definitely central for understanding the Bible.

The book will consist of three parts:

1. Introducing books on manuscripts and translations.
2. Showing how the "rules" can be used to water down the text and reverse meanings.
3. The issues concerning the Greek New Testament, replacing a good text with a horrible one - the 1880 swindle.
4. Deceitful translations building upon the freedom to butcher the original text.

This will be written largely for the laity. I am going to use a little Greek, but not much.

The fish symbol spells out the titles of Jesus, which helped early Christians connect when meeting strangers. One would make the arch in the sand or soil. The second would scratch the other half of the fish, if he was a Christian. Otherwise, the first mark really meant nothing by itself.